Sessions 47 and 48: The Glaive

After returning to the region near Ptolus and settling the refugees who agreed to join the Scales, we turned our attention to the next goal. Among our various choices, we had recently heard more from the Junior officers we had sent to Astor in search of information regarding the artifact falling from the sky like a shooting star.
 
After taking a teleportation circle to the area near Astor, we began the journey to meet with the Astorian Queen, Adrianna. During this trip, we witnessed some strange happenings, including an odd, purple eclipse in the sky. We could also see evidence of the descent of the artifact in the heavens.
 
We were introduced to Queen Adrianna while she finished up a sparring session, clearly she styles herself as a warrior to lead her armies herself. She shared that the artifact, a weapon, was falling towards the region of Belhar in the Colosi territory – an area controlled by her opponents, led by General Ivan Moores. They had been skirmishing for about a decade, repelling the general’s forces from her lands.
 
She informed us that the falling artifact, a glaive, was originally a devil’s weapon that had been claimed by a celestial during a war long ago. The celestial guardian had thrown the weapon away, causing its current descent from the heavens.
 
We were entrusted to seek out the weapon and return it to her. After negotiation by commander and a contract signed, we set off to track the falling glaive, across the Starless Mire, past the Abyssal Swamp, and to its landing location. I had mentioned to the commander that she did not seem completely forthcoming about her plans with the weapon, but we had no further recourse.
 
During our journey to track the fall of the glaive, we did encounter a scouting force from General Moores’ army. We also encountered a town near the Abyssal Sump with a tortle knight, Sir Boca. This town bordered on the Abyssal Sump, a lake which needed to be crossed to continue our tracking of the glaive. Our crossing was interrupted by an encounter with some kelpies, but Grace’s forethought to place a water breathing enchantment on most of us made the encounter relatively harmless.
 
After crossing the lake, we travelled a short distance to a farm area, which appeared to be the end of the glaive’s descent. As we arrived at the farmhouses, we spied General Moores and his troops in time to avoid an ambush.
 
During our fight with General Moores’ forces, the weapon impacted nearby, creating a huge crater. Approaching this crater after finishing off General Moores revealed a group of devils, including one huge one, that appeared to have already claimed the glaive for themselves. After a fierce combat, we were able to finish the fiends and reclaim the glaive. The temptation to take the glaive for myself was strong, such a weapon would no doubt help the Scales rise in power, but we had a clear contract to deliver the weapon back to Queen Adrianna, and we would not violate that trust.
 
On returning to the Queen, Sir Boca tried to argue for peace and asked the Queen not to take up the fiendish weapon for herself. The Queen saw things otherwise, and felt it was her due wield the weapon and exterminate her long time enemies. Commander Scar was able to convince the queen to allow us to take many of the rebels away with us, instead of having them attacked by her army. We recruited many forces that day, adding to the Scales’ numbers.